Dough divider



Sept. 22, 1953 A. E. HEIN ET AL DOUGH DIVIDER 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledDeC. 28, 1948 ,w f, .M 2, a

Sept. 22, 1953 A. E. HEIN ET AL DOUGH DIVIDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledDSO. 28, 1948 JNVENTOILS. zzszv 2:," /Vea' Patented Sept. 22, 1953 DOUGHDIVIDER- August E. Hein and William H. Klausing, Cincinnati, Ohio,assignors to The Century Machine Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio Application December 28, 1948, Serial No. 67,594

l Claims. 1

This invention relates to dough handling apparatus and, in particular,refers to dough dividers for use in bread making and similar processes.

Dough dividing apparatus of the type herein referred to includes anelongated compression or dough box having a reciprocating plungertherein. The box has an inlet opening in one side through which doughfrom a hopper is fed to the plunger. The plunger forces the dough out ofan outlet opening in one end of the box into a measuring head thattransfers predetermined quantities of dough to desired means such as aconveyor belt.

In the past considerable diliiculty has been experienced in iilliug thedough box by dough flow from the hopper. Gravity as Well as the effectof suction in the box have, in the past, been depended upon to ll thebox. Invariably, however, complete lling is not obtained and airpockets' are found in the dough.

High compression pressures lare employed in an. attempt to reducel thepockets, expel the er1- trapped air, and renderfthe dough uniform.. Suchpressures do not successfully accomplish these o-bjects and the dough isstill inaccurately scaled. Those in the art dislike the useA of.- high.pressures sincel it subjects the dough to severe punishment which islikely to kill ory fell it. Multiple compression of the dough is, inparticular, avoided and dividers are designed so that no more dough thanis necessary for' la light cushion remains in the ram chamber at the endof the. compression or explusion stroke.

In the present invention, a dough. box is provided which may becompletely filled by gravity flow without the formation. of airpockets.Y There areV two important advantages attendant upon the use ofthis construction. First, the. rate. of production of a divider havingsuch a box can be greatly increased since it is not necessary to delaythel compression stroke while the viscous dough. is attempting to flowinto the more remote corners of the dough box. Second, ther compressionpressuresmay be markedly reduced since there are no large air pockets tobe eliminated. This reduction in pressurel enables dough dividersincorporating the improved dough` box to be operated upon a principleWhich is contra to the' ying at a higher pressure.

Not only is there virtually no danger of felling the dough but theproduct obtained is much more uniform and very accurately scaled.

In addition to the improved dough box construction, the invention alsoprovides means coactive therewith. for feeding a plurality of pockets inthe measuring head so that a number of individual dough pieces may beformed on each. compression stroke of the dough plunger.

The features of construction for accomplishing these improved resultsare shown by Way of illus tration. in a preferred form of dough dividerin the accompanying drawings i n which:

Figure l is a vertical section through the im@ proved dough divider;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken from the right of Fig. l` with parts insection and parts removed;

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on line 33 of Fig. l.;

Fig. 4. is a cross section. taken on line 4-4 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a cross section taken on line 5*-5 of Fig. 4;. and.

Fig. 6 is a cross section taken. online 6--6 of Fig. 4.

The improved dough. divider shown in Fig. 1 has a hopper l and a doughbox. plate 2 forming. an. extension of the hopper which. hold. and feeddough. through the outlet 3 to the elongated dough box d which haslateral flanges (.Fig. 3) thatY are bolted to the underside of. theplate 2. Passage of dough through the outlet 3. isr regulated by a.reciprocatory' knife 5 which. lits between the: bottom of the plate 2.and the upper surface. ofA av dough plunger li: which. is slidablymounted in the box ll.. The plunger 6i compresses dough inthe box` 4 andforces it to flow through the endoutlet 1 of the box. into a dividinghead 8 which is` in pressure tight engagement therewith. As will bedescribed` hereinafter, the head 8 has a plurality of. outlets throughwhich the dough flows into a corresponding plurality of chambers 9v inthe measuring head lil.. In. accordance with conventional practice themeasuring head it may be. rotatably mounted on. the trunnions il on 'xedside frames of. the apparatus for reverse rotation and be provided inthe bores 9 with pistons i2 whichv serve to force the' dough pieces fromthe head. when the head. is rotated so that the bores. 9 open downwardlytoward the underlying conveyor belt I3.

The foregoing movable elements may be actuated` by a motor it' actingthrough a suitable speed reducer li.. They conveyormay be directlyconnected to the reducer I5 as by a sprocket drive from the driven shafti6 of the speed reducer but the remaining devices are preferablyconnected by means of suitable connecting rods to various throws of thecrankshaft I7 which is driven by the reducer through the belt I8. One ofthese rods is the connecting rod I9 which is mounted on a throw ofcrankshaft I1 and used to rotate the measuring head IG and reciprocatethe pistons I2 to eject dough from the measuring head. The upper end ofthe rod I9 is pinned at l5I (Fig. 2) to an oif-center part of the headI2 so that movement of the rodv causes the head to swing about thetrunnions II. In order to reciprocate the pistons I2, thehead Illcarries a bushing 53 mounted on cross shaft 55. Fixed to the end of thebushing is a crank arm 51 with a roller 59. The angular position of thecrank arm 5i' is determined by abutment with an ear (not shown) on wormwheel Si which is rotatably mounted on the shaft. The angular positionof the wheel SI is manually controlled through worm B3 and thisdetermines the position of the pistons i2 during loading and thus theweight of the dough pieces. When the head l!) is rotated by rod I9, itcarries these parts and the roller 59 will strike a xed stop 55 thuscausing the arm 5i and bushing 53 to rock or rotate with respect to thehead Iii. This movement is transmitted through a dog clutch arrangementE1 to rocker member 65 that is mounted on shaft 55. The member 59 haslever arms 'II that are connected at 'I3 to the ends of the pistons I2to move them when it is rocked. The dog clutch 67 is yieldably held inengagement by spring T5 which may be compressed manually to disconnectthe arms 'II and pistons l2 from the rest of the mechanism so that thepistons and cylinder may be easily cleaned.

The knife 5 and plunger 5 are connected to the crankshaft I'I through arod and linkage mechanism which permits adjustment of their relativeVmotion and thus enables control to be exercised over working of thedough so that uniformity may be obtained among various size doughpieces. This mechanism includes connecting rods 2B and 2l for the knifeand plunger, respectively, the knife rod being attached to a crankshaftthrow which is slightly in advance and of greater radius than the throwto which the plunger rod 2l is attached. The rods 2U and 2i are pivotedto central sections of the floating links 22 and 23 which in turn arepivoted at their lower ends to a spring-loaded adjustable block 24 thatis slidable upon a pair of rods that depend from a headpiece affixed tothe frame of the apparatus, the setting of the compression spring 25a,being regulated by the adjusting screw 24h which bears upon the block 24to limit spring expansion. A link 25 pivotally connects the link 23 tothe back of the plunger 6. A lost motion connection 25 connects theknife link 22 to the back of the knife 5. In the connection 25 a block 2is slidably and adjustably mounted on the rod 28, which is pivoted tothe knife, under the control of an adjusting screw 29 that threadsthrough the block 2i and is rotatably supported in the pivot at the rearof the knife 5. The pivot pin 3E of the knife link 22 engages the block27 to drive the knife 5 forward, and engages a block 3i which is fixedon the rod 28 to return the knife. Thus, when the space between theblocks 21 and 3| is adjusted by turning of screw 29 to be greater thanthe diameter of pin 3D, there is a delay in forward movement of theknife until the pin moves 4 through the excess distance to contact theblock 2l. Thus, by control of the space between the blocks 2'! and 3 i,through the medium of screw 28, it is possible to vary the cutoff point,i. e., the position of the plunger B when the knife 5 has completelyclosed the outlet 3.

In accordance with thepresent invention, the dough box is internallyformed to a shape typified by that shown in Fig. 3. Thus, it is providedwith an open top 32 which forms an inlet for. dough flowing through thehopper outlet 3 when the knife 5 is retracted. The sides of the box 4converge inwardly from the inlet 32 so that the inlet defines an openingof maximum box width. These requirements are most conveniently met byforming the box 4 in the semicylindrical shape shown wherein the topopening 32 lies on a diameter or a chord of maximum length. l

In constructions heretofore known, suction in the dough box has beendepended upon to completely ll it. Invariably, however, this has notbeen sufficient and the dough did not flow into the more remote corners.Hence, upon subsequent compression by the plunger, the pressuresrequired were high but, nonetheless, voids and air pockets were presentin the dough resulting in inaccurate scaling. In the presentconstruction, however, the shape of the dough box 4 conforms generallyto the substantially tear drop shape of the dough leaving the hopper.Suction is, therefore, not required to change the natural flow path ofthe dough so as to ill remote corners of the box. As a consequence, thepresent dough box produces very uniform dough pieces and.

lower compression pressures can be employed.

The plunger 6 which works in the dough box 5 is, of course, tted theretoand thus in the present case is also of semi-cylindrical shape. As thosein the art will recognize from the drawings, the plunger 5 may be formedby foundry methods. The plunger 5 forces the dough to flow through thesemi-circular end outlet 'l of the box 4, applying a maximum pressurethat is regulated b-y the resistance of the spring loadedy block 25,into the dividing head or dough box front s. In order to obtain thehereinbefore mentioned benefits of multiple compression, the length ofthe dough box front and the length of the stroke of the plunger 6 (thelatter being governed by the setting of spring 24a) are preferablyinterrelated so that the combined volumes of the front and box at thebeginning of the stroke are more than twice that of the volume of doughexpelled on each compression stroke. With this arrangement there isalways a reserve of dough in the front S which receives at least two,and preferably three, i. e., multiple compressions. This helps todistribute and expel any excessive gas pockets which might be formed vand is a still further aid to accurate and uniform The dough box andplunger are capable of discharging dough pieces on each stroke which areconsiderably larger than those ordinarily desired. In order to obtain ahigh rate of production, it is necessary to divide the dough lump;

passing outlet I into a predetermined number of smaller pieces ofsuitable weight and volume.l

This could be accomplishedby the measuring head l0, butnonunifo'rinities would 'result due to the dough striking the surface ofthe head between the bores 9. Hence, it is desirable to use an adapterhead between the dough box outlet 'I and the measuring head l0 and inthe present case this comprises the dough box front or dividing head Swhich is best shown in Figs. 4-6. 'The front is tightly secured to theoutlet end of the dough box so as to Vform in 'eie'ct an extensionthereof. Inasmuch as a rotary rather than reciprocatory measuring headis illustrated, the outlet side 33 of the front 8 is rounded and forms apartially cylindrical bearing surface for the rotary measuring head I.The head lil, in conventional form, has a rounded solid upper wall 34which engages the side 33 to prevent egress of dough when the head isrotated to the downward discharge position.

The front 8 is constructed to apply plunger pressure only on the pistonsl2 in the measuring head bores 9. It is also constructed so that thereis substantially no extrusion of the dough as it passes from the largeroutlet 'I to the bores 9. For these purposes, the inlet 'l' (Figs. 5 and6) of the front 8 is of the same size and shape as the outlet 'I of thedough box 4, it being considered that the tip 35 of the knife 5 in itsextreme position of Figs. 1 and 4 is in effect a part of the front 8which may be slotted at 35 to receive it. As shown in Figs. and 6, theinlet 1 opens into the dough front chamber 31 which has downwardly andoutwardly sloping walls and a pair of outlets 38 opening into the outletside 33. An upright and forwardly extending dividing plate 39 is formedin the front and is positioned in the chamber 3l between the outlets 38.This serves to sever the dough owing through inlet 1' and direct it intopaths leading to the outlets. The outlets 33 are coextensive with andpreferably the same size as the bores 9 so that pressure is applied onlyto the pistons I2. The combined areas of the outlets 38 are preferablyabout equal to the area of the inlet l', hence no substantial extrudingof the dough occurs as it passes through the front 8.

It will now be recognized that by Virtue of the improvementshereindescrbed the dough divider illustrated is capable of producingmore uniform and` accurately scaled dough pieces than heretoforeavailable and at a high rate of production. It will further be realizedthat invention may be employed in modified forms hence it is notintended to limit it to the specific details shown herein by way ofillustration.

What is claimed is:

1. In a dough divider, an elongated dough box having a dough receivinginlet and sides converging inwardly toward each other from the edges ofthe inlet, said inlet dening an opening extending across the maximumwidth of said box, said sides being curved in cross section and joiningeach other to form a continuous curved wall, and a dough plunger or"substantially the same cross sectional shape as the box mounted thereinfor longitudinal reciprocation and adapted to open and close said inletand to compress dough conned in the box.

2. In a dough divider, a dough box comprising a cylindrical segmenthaving the chord side thereof open to provide a dough receiving inlet,the edges of said inlet dening an opening extending across the maximumwidth of the box, and a dough plunger of substantially the same crosssectional shape as the box mounted there- 6 in for longitudinalreciprocation and adapted to open and close said inlet and to compressdough coni-ined in the box. I

In a dough divider, a dough box comprising a semi-cylindrical segmenthaving the diametrical side open to provide a dough receiving inlet, anda semi-cylindrical dough plunger fitted in the box for longitudinalreciprocation and adapted to open and close said inlet and to confi-`press dough confined in the box.

4. In a dough divider, an elongated dough box having a dough receivinginlet and sides con-g verging inwardly toward each other from the edgesof the inlet whereby said inlet edges define an inlet opening extendingacross the maximum width of the box cross section and joining each otherto form a continuous curved wall, and a dough plunger of substantiallythe same cross sectional shape as the box mounted therein forlongitudinal reciprocation and adapted to open and close said inlet andto compress dough conned in the box, said box having an open outlet end,an adapter head in pressure-tight engagement with the outlet end of thebox to receive dough flowing therethrough, and a measuring head having apair of cylinders arranged to receive dough from the adapter head, saidadapter head being provided with a central knife edge divider forsevering the dough flowing therethrough and directing it intopredetermined paths, said adapter head having a plurality of outlets inline 'with said cylinders and similar in size and shape thereto andseparated from each other by the knife edge divider in said adapter.

5. In a dough divider, the combination of an elongated dough box havinga dough receiving inlet and sides converging inwardly from the edges ofthe inlet, said edges dening an opening extending across the maximumwidth of the box, said box having an outlet at one end, a dough plungerfor compressing dough in the box and forcing it through the outlet,means for adjusting the stroke of said plunger, said means and thelength of said box being related so that at the end of the compressionstroke the box contains at least as much dough between the plunger andoutlet as is expelled by the compression stroke whereby all the doughreceives a plurality of compressions.

6. In a dough divider, the combination of a dough box formed by acylindrical segment having the chord side thereof open to provide adough receiving inlet, said chord side defining an opening extendingacross the maximum width of said box, one end of the segment being opento form a segmental outlet opening for compressed dough, a segmentaldough plunger or substantially the same size as the box mounted thereinfor longitudinal reciprocation and adapted to open and close the inletand to force dough through said outlet, an adapter head inpressure-tight engagement with the end of the box having a segmentalinlet forming an extension of the box outlet and a chamber inrectilinear flow communication with said segmental inlet, flow dividingmeans in the chamber for separating dough ilow into a plurality orpaths, said head having an outlet for each of the paths, a measuringhead having cylinders receiving dough from said adapter outlets, saidcylinders and adapter outlets being of similar size and shape and thetotal area of the adapter outlets being substantially equal to that ofthe segmental outlet.

7. The invention set forth in claim 4 including means for reciprocatingsaid dough plunger between forward and retracted position adjacent toand remote from said adapter head, said means being arranged so that atthe end of the forward stroke of the plunger the box and adapter headcontain at least as much dough between the plunger and the measuringhead as is contained in the box space located between the forward andretracted positions of said plunger whereby all the dough receives aplurality of compressions.

AUGUST E. HEIN. WILLIAM H. KLAUSING.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date Parsons et a1 Nov. 27, 1906 Streich Nov. 19, 1907 PendrithDec. 10, 190'? Pointon Dec. 28, 1920 Russell Mar. 12, 1929 Dudley May29, 1934

